Dhaka seeks OIC voice over Rohingya issue in UNGA

Bangladesh has requested member States of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to include their support for Rohingya issue in their engagements during the forthcoming UN General Assembly.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam made the request when a 16-member delegation of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) met him here.

They discussed the Rohingya issue and the role that can be played by the OIC parliaments in addressing the situation.

The 73rd session of the UNGA will open on September 18 and will be presided over by Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces of Ecuador.

The visiting Members of Parliament along with PUIC Secretary General Prof Dr Mahmud Erol Klilic expressed their gratitude to Bangladesh for the humane stance taken by the Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in providing food, shelter, medical care and other humanitarian services to the more than 1 million Rohingyas forcibly displaced from Myanmar.

The State Minister appreciated the support of the brotherly countries of the OIC in addressing the humanitarian situation arising out of this unprecedented exodus of Rohingyas into Bangladesh over a very short period, said the Foreign Ministry here.

He briefed them on the steps being taken by the Government, including the arrangements agreed with Myanmar for repatriation of these displaced people.

The delegation, comprising of MPs from 7 member states of the PUIC, namely Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, Morocco, Sudan and Turkey will visit the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar on Wednesday.